A Phantom and Other Illusions
by miss mcGonagle
Summary: This has changed from a single drabble to a collection of unrelated HGSS drabbles. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

_**This is my first ever stab at a Severus/Hermione fic...please leave me a review to tell me what you think. I don't have much experience with this ship. This is actually a 200 word drabble that I wrote as a contest entry. The contest was to write a poem or drabble using the words "It was only a phantom" as the first line. Future contest drabbles that feature HGSS will be posted here as well so that I have a collection of HGSS pieces. They will be unrelated and complete.** _

**Disclaimer: not mine.**

**_phantom _****_2. an appearance or illusion without material substance, as a dream image, mirage, or optical illusion. _**

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_It was only a phantom, an illusion_.

Hermione told herself this as she looked up from her cauldron and saw a flicker of longing on her Professor's face. But how could this be an illusion if she saw it every time she glanced up from her work?

It wasn't so much a look of desire as it was of yearning, of, love? Hermione wasn't sure. She was almost afraid to solve this riddle, afraid of what she might discover about her own feelings. Yet her heart pounded as she looked up from her work in his class, hoping to see that expression once again.

He knew he had been caught; her startled eyes told Severus that he had let his mask slip, that she had seen the feelings he kept hidden. Yet Severus could not help but watch her as she sat in his class. He hated himself for the way he felt about her, but he had come to accept the fact that he did in fact love her.

He never expected to catch her looking at him, wearing the same expression of yearning and of love.

_It was an illusion_, he told himself, _it was only a phantom_.


	2. Chapter 2

**My second HGSS drabble...the requirements for this contest are to write a 200 word drabble about a HP character preparing for something and that it must include a match. Please let me know what you think. I don't know when I'll write the next drabble, there are some other contests that I could write as HGSS.**

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Standing in the corridor with the other fifth years waiting to enter the Potions classroom, Hermione turned herself away from Harry and Ron, taking several deep breaths and wringing her hands. She could only be grateful for the dimness of the space as her cheeks were threatening to flush a deep crimson.

Severus Snape had passed close by her in the crowded Great Hall that morning and Hermione felt the tips of his fingers brush across her hip. His touch was like a match, setting fire to her hormones and her daydreams; Hermione was afraid of what emotions might rise to the surface when the professor opened the door to his classroom. Would he use Legilimency to look into her thoughts? Hermione felt her face burn just imagining what he might think if he did look into her mind and saw what fantasies her unbidden thoughts had created.

The door opened and Hermione bit her bottom lip, looking down as she followed the others into the classroom. She was so intent upon hiding her own face; she missed the flicker of emotion that Severus quickly fought to hide as she passed, his own daydreams momentarily getting the best of him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is another 200 word drabble...the contest was to write a poem/drabble starting with the words 'calm and cool'. Thank you to ImSoMMAD and OSUSprinks for your reviews! Please leave a review and tell me what you think of my poor little ficlets.**

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Calm and cool, that was how Severus tried to be as she walked into the staff room. It would never do for the other teachers to see him lose composure at the sight of one of his students, but it wasn't easy when she surprised him like that, entering the staff room without warning to speak with McGonagall.

The other professors all wanted their chance to talk to her; Severus wanted to do more than congratulate her on her latest academic achievement, but he was the only one who held back and said nothing. He was in agony watching her standing there with the other professors, wanting her to talk to him and him alone.

"Good afternoon, Professor Snape."

Did she know what torture it was for him to be so close to her and yet so far away with all the others watching them? Probably, that damn girl knew everything about him.

"Miss Granger."

She smirked. She knew exactly what she was doing to him and was proud of it. Severus wanted to wipe the smug look off her face, to cover those lips with his own, but he couldn't do so in front of his colleagues. Damn her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Good news for all you HGSS fans...the new contests are up at the Hideaway, so there will be one more drabble after this one for the month of April. Reviews are very much appreciated and I promise to reply to whatever you leave me. No flames please.**

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Term had just begun. The students had not been back three weeks and yet their friendships had already been renewed, as had his inexplicable feelings for _her_.

Today was her seventeenth birthday; she was now a woman. But she had always been older, wiser, than all her peers. When did he first begin to see her in that light? When had she become more to him than just that insufferable know it all who had befriended the much hated spawn of an old enemy? Why did he now desire to join her friends at the Gryffindor table as they presented her with gifts and received her heartfelt thanks in return? And why did he flinch when she threw her arms around the two young men beside her? Was the pulsing in his veins actually envy?

Severus looked down at his plate to keep his eyes away from her and considered the fried egg he had chosen for breakfast. Did she enjoy her eggs fried, or scrambled, or poached? Did she even like eggs at all? And why did he suddenly care?

The professor returned his gaze to the brunette at the Gryffindor table and whispered under his breath.

"Happy birthday…Hermione."


	5. Chapter 5

**This is the last drabble of the month actually let me upload it!)...I'm sure when the May Contests are announced at the Hideaway that I will have one or two more drabbles to post then. Who knows, I might even come up with one without a prompt! ('Like a whisper' was the prompt for this, btw)**

**On a side note, I do appreciate the four reviews I recieved for the last 'chapter'. These drabbles are only 200 words long, but I put a lot of time and thought into those 200 words. A 20 word review would make my day. Or less, really. Thanks for reading.**

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Like a whisper, a tantalizing scent wafted from the Potions classroom as Severus passed by, causing him to pause and step inside. The classroom was empty, except for three bubbling cauldrons. Severus immediately spotted the one that had drawn him inside.

The potion had a distinctive sheen with steam rising up in spirals; Amortentia, the world's most powerful love potion. Severus inhaled and frowned at what his nose detected – parchment, the metallic bite he always associated with potions, and something else. Severus was slightly worried that he could not name this final scent.

Amortentia smelled of what most attracted him and yet there was an unknown element in this complex fragrance and this was frustrating to Severus. What he did not know about himself he could not control, and Severus Snape's very life depended upon maintaining constant control.

This riddle stayed with Severus throughout the day. As the students filed out of his sixth year Defense class, Severus smelled that mysterious scent again. He looked up quickly and frowned at the brunette who had just approached to ask a question – that couldn't be, could it?

Severus snapped at the girl, frightened by his own discovery.

"What do you want, Granger?"


	6. Chapter 6

**There will be only one more drabble after this until August because I will be away from the PC for the summer...hopefully I will be inspired during that time and will have some more drabbles for you then! Please review, etc, etc. This contest prompt was to write about a character preparing for a trip (and must include a candlestick).**

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**Hermione emptied her school trunk and refilled it with all the clothes and books she would need while on holiday with her parents. Something at the bottom of the trunk caught her attention; the candle that her parents had placed upon her seventeenth birthday cake when they had celebrated early before she returned to Hogwarts. She had brought it to school, knowing that the sentimental gesture would please her mother. As she looked at the candle, she suddenly felt a rush of dislike towards the object. 

Severus would hate it and all the muggle traditions it represented. Just as he would look upon the skiing trip with disdain.

This thought startled her, not that Severus Snape would dislike such things, but that she would think of him and his opinions at a time like this. When had he begun to invade her thoughts like this? Was it when she first noticed how her heart pounded when he passed? Or when she realized that his voice sent shivers of pleasure up her spine?

Hermione abruptly tossed the candle into the dustbin - wanting suddenly, desperately to be something he would want and hating everything that would lower herself in his eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, this is the last one until the summer ends...it was written as entry for the Whose Line? contest at the Hideaway where the first line must be 'what had he said to her?' See you all in August!**

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What had he said to her? The words had slipped from his lips unbidden, gliding from his heart to his mouth without pausing for censorship. He berated himself for that mistake while he watched the young woman before him react as his words reached her.

Her eyes had widened and she stood before him shocked, awed, and hopeful. Her lips trembled and he had to restrain himself from leaning forwards to still them with his own.

Should he, could he, retract those dangerous words? Take them back before they led to something neither of them could recover from? Before they lead to the inevitable heartbreak that she, for one, did not deserve?

In his hesitation, he lost his chance to take back the terrible words and was forced to watch in a simultaneously tortuous and delicious state of limbo as she opened her mouth to speak and from her beloved lips fell the words that filled him with both awe and dread.

He closed his eyes as the words washed over him, relishing the sweet sound even as he prepared himself for the dangerous times ahead brought on by what they could no longer hold inside.

"I love you too."


	8. Chapter 8

An update...only 100 words. This was written pre-DH, so no spoilers. I have another update coming soon, one I like much better than this. Anyways...enjoy! And remember...I'm more likely to keep working on these drabbles (for a couple I don't even ship) if I have some encouragement!

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Dear Severus,

I love you.

And yes, I know that if you were to ever hear those words from me you would be utterly repulsed. At first I thought my feelings were a silly infatuation, but I know differently now.

I once sought Professor McGonagall's counsel but she couldn't possibly comprehend the agony of loving an unreachable man and so I fled. I know that even if you did not hate me you could never love me so this letter will be burned like all the others.

Though you will never know it, I am yours, now and always.

Hermione


	9. Chapter 9

**Another pre-DH 100wd drabble...slightly Snily of you think about it. Anyway, I'm rather fond of this but it will probably be my last for a while. I have some other fics I would like to work on, but I may return and do a few more of these if inspiration strikes. Thanks for all the reviews.**

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When I killed Dumbledore, I didn't see his face. I did not see the looks of grief or shock or outrage upon the faces of those who loved him nor did I imagine the countless nights I would spend as a fugitive. Try as I might I could not picture my victorious reunion with Lord Voldemort. The only image in my mind was of your face, loving me, trusting me, needing me to be something other than what I am. In that moment, it was not Albus Dumbledore that I murdered, but you. And that has irrevocably shattered my soul.


End file.
